This weekend we hosted Dylan Bernstein at the Mad Hatter Cafe in Hove.

I’d met Dylan a few years ago through a mutual friend Shari Berman and we’d stayed in touch since. He travels half the year teaching Ashtanga Yoga and is based in Hong Kong the other half of the year where he runs a Mysore programme. He also teaches each year for Prem and Radha in Bali. He’ll be there again this year in late June.

I’d describe Dylan with two words: Radiant and balanced. The man has a beautiful complexion and bright shiny eyes. He’s a picture of vitality and health, which I assume is a combination of genetics and many years of dedicated practice. He’s the kind of guy who makes women’s hearts flutter and men grind their teeth resentfully. What I also found very attractive about him was his balanced disposition and I’m not just talking about his handstands. There’s a tendency amongst Ashtanga practitioners towards rigidity and dogmatism. It’s got something to do with the A type personality and the commitment required to maintain daily morning practice. Dylan is very much part of the living tradition of Ashtanga yoga having just spent two months in Mysore practicing with Sharath and yet he exudes a confidence and lightness about his practice and the lineage.

Saturday morning – Led primary

On Saturday we were joined by quite a few guests from London. In the morning we kicked off with a traditional Sanskrit counted primary going as far as Baddha Konasana before doing back bends. But before we started our asana practice Dylan demonstrated Nauli kriya and we all had a go. He spoke about the relationship between Prana, bandhas and the breath. In this context he introduced the 5 vayus – Udana vayu, prana vayu, samana vayu, apana vayu and Vyana vayu.

Dylan reminded us of the need to ground as well as lift during our practice. He also emphasized awareness of the bandhas and initiating movement from within the breath. So starting the inhale or exhale and then following with movement rather than moving and then breathing. I found this really challenging as I’ve gotten into the habit of moving first and then breathing. So it was a timely reminder to change my pattern: Breath initiates movement.

Saturday afternoon – Yoga philosophy

We took a two hour lunch break and the afternoon session was a whirlwind tour of the history of yoga philosophy and it’s roots. Dylan spoke confidently and astutely for two and a half hours. I was worried about this in the planning stage as I thought people might find it boring but Dylan is not hard on the eyes or ears and he knows his subject intimately. We touched on the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Buddha, Tantra, Advaita Vedanta, Hatha & Ashtanga Yoga. The session was informal and relaxed and there were good questions and discussion.

Here’s a brief summary of the session: There exists something divine and changeless and a spark of this unchanging divinity exists in all of us and that our role in life is to discover, connect and live this truth (Dharma). This truth isn’t a single truth for everyone but rather many truths for different people at different times. These different truths aren’t exclusive but rather co-existent. We also touched on the role of Karma in our lives. This plays an important role in discovering and living your Dharma.

Dylan gave the example of Arjuna before the great battle of Kurukshetra. Arjuna a mighty warrior sees that great death, suffering and destruction is coming in the battle and is reluctant to fight. Krishna convinces him to fight saying that inaction is not possible. Krishna asks Arjuna: “O Arjuna, how can a person who knows that the Atma is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and imperishable, kill anyone or cause anyone to be killed?”. Krishna goes on to add: “A Karma-yogi gets freedom from both vice and virtue in this life itself. Therefore, strive for Karma-yoga. Working to the best of one’s abilities without getting attached to the fruits of work is called (Nishkaama) Karma-yoga.” Arjuna’s admirable compassion is in this case overruled by his need to fulfill his truth as a warrior. We have a tendency to emphasize skillful action as being that which brings the least or no pain to others or oneself. But in Arjunas case many die in the battle as a result of his skillful action. This is philosophically rather challenging and even unpalatable to the Western mind.

We also touched on the importance of viveka or discrimination. This quality is needed in order to discriminate whether a course of action is skillful or unskillful. The Buddha was revolutionary in that he encouraged his followers to question even his own teachings and to rely instead on their own experience.

Sunday morning – Mysore style class

On Sunday (the biggest Moon day of the year) we did morning Mysore style practice. The room was busy, hot and sweaty with more of the local Brighton Ashtangis joining in for this session. Dylan has sure, experienced hands when it comes to adjustments. At the beginning of the session he gave people permission to make whatever modifications they needed and to do their own practice as usual. The two hours flew by.

Sunday afternoon – technique work

The afternoon session was good fun. It started with an introduction to the Ashtanga Yoga Pranayama series – normally taught after intermediate series is completed. Then we moved onto exploring jumping into handstands with the help of a partner, jumping through, jumping into bakasana, jumping into bujapidasana and exploring the role of gluteous maximus in back bending. Again the emphasis was on moving from within the breath.

There was also a Q & A session at the end where people had a chance to raise any questions that had come up as a result of the workshop. I really enjoyed the workshop and got lots of positive feedback from those attending. Dylan had a great time too so hopefully we’ll be having him back again next year.

The next workshop in Brighton will be on September 1st and 2nd. Joey Miles will be returning for another weekend workshop – definitely a date for the diary. You’ll be able to book online and the details will in the workshops section of the site in a few weeks.

Feeling the pain

I never thought that I’d be able to come up to standing without having gone to Mysore – a strange notion I know, but I just sort of always assumed it was something that I’d do there. I’m planning my first trip at the end of this year which I’m very excited about!

Coming up to standing has been a long journey of over 5 years of early morning Mysore practice for me. I’m a 6ft man who is not naturally flexible or gifted when it comes to asana practice. I’ve also struggled with back pain during and after practice for years. It’s taken me a long time to work out how to use my upward dog so that I don’t feel a pinching sensation every time I do a vinyasa. A lot of this has to do with my shoulders, hip flexors and the curve of my spine. I’m certainly not out of the woods either. I still normally have back ache after practice every day. I know – I should just give up and do something else right? Well, that’s what my Dad says anyway.

Dropping back

In order to come back up to standing on your own you need to be able to drop back on your own first. Here are a couple of blog posts about my journey towards dropping back (seems like a lot of drama when I reread them!) The post Back again is all about the fear of dropping back and was written 9 months before I actually managed it successfully on my own. I did it! I dropped back written in August 2010 is very aptly titled and doesn’t need any further description.

The journey

20 months after first dropping back I managed to come back up to standing. That’s all with daily Morning Mysore practice. I seriously doubt I’d have been able to do it without daily practice – ever. It seems like a long time and the road has been anything but straight forward in terms of my practice. In this time I’ve suffered the worst back pain ever (yeah I know – stop doing it!) and at one point I was reduced to just being able to do 1 sun salutation and having to build my practice up one posture at a time – after 5 days I was doing the standing sequence again. During this time my faith was tested to the point where I seriously considered giving up and even discussed quitting with my teacher.

Coming up

In January 2012 I began dropping back on my own again after spending many months building up my strength and stamina with consistent daily practice and really working on my Urdhva Dhanurasana, making sure I was in no pain when doing my back bends. The big day was on Wed April 4th that I came up to standing after my 3rd drop back for the first time. On the second drop back I surprised myself by pushing up and leaving the floor – then came crashing down – I was so surprised. Something felt different – up until that point I’d been dropping back and then pushing with all my might but not being able to get my hands off the floor no matter how hard I tried. So on the final one I really went for it and came up with a little step back. Not pretty but I was up! Hannah and Nicky who were practicing next to me both witnessed it and gave me a little cheer. My legs were shaking with adrenalin and I felt breathless with excitement!

What changed?

I suspect that there’s been an opening in the front of my body – my chest, shoulders and or hips which has meant that my hands are slightly closer to my feet when I drop back but it’s not something that I was aware of.

Show me that again

The next day I was wondering if I’d be able to do it again – and I did 3 times in a row. I’ve heard it said that if you can do a posture 3 days consecutively then you’ve nailed it. The moon day fell on a Friday so we had two days off before I got a chance to try it again.

I managed to come up first attempt and twice more in a row on Sunday which was really good – especially after 2 days off.
I’ve been able to do it each day since – sometimes crashing down on the first attempt but then getting it, sometimes staggering back but still doing it.

What next?

I’m working towards keeping my heels flat (a few more years for me – I think on that one!), not taking a step back, and then finally dropping back and coming up with the correct vinyasa count: exhale – drop back, inhale – come up, exhale -drop back, inhale – come up etc… without any extra breaths in between. So lots still to work on there!

Well done

I have to say it’s an awesome feeling coming up from drop backs and I also feel like I now have a complete primary series. Of course still lots of opening and improvement/refinement to come but it feels like I have all the bits of the puzzle in place now. I’ve actually been really surprised by the whole experience – trying to drop back was such a drama and I was sort of expecting the same thing with coming up – but it’s all happened so suddenly.

Keep going

If you’re working on this yourself or if dropping back seems impossible – just don’t give up. One day you’ll surprise yourself too!

On the Sunday morning, the first day of the week, Sharath gave a Q&A session after practice. These are our notes from some of the more memorable bits:

Yoga is for relieving the suffering caused by the 6 poisons which surround each of our hearts. The 6 poisons are: Kama (lust); Krodha (anger); Moha (delusion); Lobha (greed); Matsarya (envy); Mada (sloth).

It’s recommended to practice 6 days a week but practising 4 days is better than 2 days which is better than not at all. But 6 days is recommended. If you make it part of your life then it won’t be something you feel you have to do, it’s simply something you do every day, like brushing your teeth. He said the asana practice is the foundation of your spiritual practice and the purpose is to make your body healthy. It’s very difficult to be spiritual if you’re not healthy in your body first.

Teaching yoga has become very difficult in the West as it’s become like $15 per posture, i.e. if you give your students more postures they’ll come back, but if you don’t they won’t. So some teachers just want to give students more and more postures. But he said it’s not about looking for more advanced postures, in fact it’s not about the asana at all. Whatever you’re doing is your practice. If you’re bringing up children they’re part of you so your children become your yoga.

“Yoga is within me. Wherever I am yoga happens.” (This was a defining moment for both of us and even though he said it as an almost throwaway comment, it really struck a chord.)

He said our practice will support many other things in our lives. We have to make many adjustments in our lives, e.g. when we have children. But we shouldn’t stop practising yoga.

He said Yoga is getting very fancy. People want to be very expressive and put their arms up like this (raised his arms in a very elaborate manner). He said it doesn’t matter how you put your arms up, just put them up!

When asked how long to leave it before practising again after having a baby and whether you should only do primary he said you should do whatever feels right, whenever you feel ready, even if this is 1 or 2 years. If you’re pregnant you can practice up to 8 months into your pregnancy, but no twists. After childbirth you should take at least a 3 month break. If you’ve had a ceasarian you should wait at least 6 months and be very careful.

He told a story of when he injured his shoulder when he was younger and he could feel something tearing inside. That afternoon he went to Guruji to tell him he couldn’t practice the next day but Guruji told him he’d volunteered him to give a demonstration. Sharath protested and said he couldn’t even breathe properly but Guruji told him to just do it. So the next day Sharath gave the demonstration which was very painful but once it had fully healed he actually had more flexibility and felt stronger so he could see the benefits of just getting on with the practice.

At the end of the last session he reminded us to keep practising and that places like London need Yoga. He said if we continue to practice with dedication and faith then knowledge will come easily to us.

Om shanti!

We’d been looking forward to John Scott’s evening workshops for some time, so it was with some considerable disappointment that we missed the first session due to the burst water pipe in Croydon which plunged the whole of the south east into complete chaos. Luckily we made it up to Stillpoint Yoga on the second evening and marvelled at the sheer size of the Shard building as we exited London Bridge station right underneath it.

We had no idea what to expect from the sessions, as we discovered John Scott is renowned for his casual approach to workshops, preferring to wing it on the day than plan every minute detail in advance – at least this is certainly how it came across. So as we sat in Starbucks across the road watching the organiser, Scott Johnson, and other excited yogis tucking into coffees, smoothies and sandwiches we found ourselves wondering whether there was going to be any asana practice at all. Once inside the studio, these concerns were further enhanced by a friend who told us the Monday evening session had consisted mainly of talking, pranayama and meditation.

But once the workshop got underway we quickly forgot about our worries as John’s gentle voice and inspiring words led us on a fascinating journey of exploration and discovery. He encouraged us to explore the physical development of a baby’s anatomy and experiment with how a baby finds its centre of gravity and learns to sit, knee and crawl. It was eye opening to realise how much strength it takes to make these tiny baby movements and how quickly this strength can be built up.

We progressed very gently through the surya namaskaras and some of the way through the standing sequence using these small but very focussed baby movements and it was astonishing to discover how much effort this required. He also asked us to join him in calling the Sanskrit count out loud whilst we were moving through the sequence, something which I’d never experienced before and found quite challenging, as coordination of the count, followed by the breath and movement was key. At the end of the session John gave a very inspiring speech about sharing yoga with others, with two memorable quotes being “every yoga class is teacher training” and “we teach others what we most need to learn ourselves”. Great stuff!

On the Wednesday evening we were expecting more of the same but were in for a shock! Apparently Scott had told John to “give them one tonight” so it was a much more physical asana session. However, rather than merely count through the primary series, this was a led class with a difference. John incorporated many of the movements we’d learnt the night before so that he’d lead us gently from one baby movement to the next, then say “now just lean forward and see if you can move your arm this way” and before we knew it we all found ourselves happily sitting in Marichyasana A without quite knowing how we’d got there – and letting out an audible “aah” of realisation! We found ourselves moving into many of the postures this way, which provided a uniquely different perspective than simply launching straight in to the full pose as we so often do normally.

John brought a great deal of humour and humility to the sessions and I found myself fascinated and inspired by all he had to say. He has a very gentle, yet very solid and dedicated approach to the practice and I could quite happily listen to him talk about yoga all day! It was a shame we only got to practice twice with him but it was definitely worth it and both Guy and I are already eagerly anticipating our next opportunity to practice with him – whether that’s in New Zealand, the UK or beyond!

I’d like to thank Scott and Oz for their hospitality and for putting on such a great workshop. Their studio, Stillpoint Yoga, is a lovely big space fantastically located right next to London Bridge station and it was great to finally practice there with them.

Om shanti

Hannah and Guy

This last week has seen the biggest change to my practice in years!

Last Saturday my teacher Sarah took myself and 4 others to practice with her teacher – Denise Martin-Harker. Denise is an old student of John Scott and studies with Manju Jois hosting him when he comes to the UK. She also runs an Ashtanga teacher training progamme. I’m interested in doing her teacher training after the last course that I signed up to fell through.

I’ve met her a few times before when she’s been down in Brighton when Manju visits, normally around September time. She has an amazing practice and she’s really insightful. Our time with her was very much workshop style self practice and she prescribed us each with a different practice and gave us homework.

I didn’t get very far into the practice before she stopped me – at dve the 2nd position in the first sun salutation and gave me new instructions about positioning my hands further forward. I was slightly bemused by this quick intervention. She also got most of us do do a split primary and intermediate – practicing up to Supta Kurmasana and then going onto intermediate up until Ustrasana in my case. I’d never done this before so it made for an interesting change.

the new way

I’d always assumed that I’d do a traditional split which would mean practicing all of standing, primary and intermediate up to at least Eka pada sirsasana. Obviously for me it’s going to take many years and well over two hours each morning. So I’m open to trying this alternative route. On the way back I asked Sarah about how it would work. It’s a two day split – on the first day you do the sequence that I mentioned above. the next day you do standing and then start at Navasana and practice through until Ustrasana.

The second split is actually deceptively difficult. It’s shorter but I find that I’m not sufficiently warmed up to get into Kurmasana and Supta Kurmasana without help from Sarah. The first split is also rather challenging because you go from Supta Kurmasana which is the peak of primary series straight into Pashasana which is also requires great strength and flexibility. But hey I’m not complaining.

Last week was the first full week that I did this new split and as expected it was very hard work. It’s great to be working on all the back bends at the beginning of intermediate every day. I’m surprised by how hard I find the postures, particularly Salabhasana. By Thursday I got as far as Marichyasana C before I ground to a halt on the mat with exhaustion. I went home early that afternoon and went straight to sleep. Friday morning I slept in and had a good primary series practice in the evening.

A tough but rewarding week with more to follow. I’m expecting that it’ll take my body around 4 – 6 weeks to adjust to this new regime. I have to say I’m grateful for the challenge and the change.